She's a big fan of the trees theme through his artwork. Also, she agrees with me that a second visit to the exhibition is a great idea (she wasn't able to - I did three and wish I could have squeezed in a fourth).

Yes, I would have benefited from more visits and time just standing in one spot looking. As with other art, Tolkien's art and those Bayne poster maps were very rich and needed more time to see 'the forest & the tree' of a work, and to become conscious of some of the details, symmetries, patterns, use of color. Just amazing.Bruce

What would have been the most efficient way to get to Mordor? To answer this Tim Harford turns to information in the Lord of the Rings books and original documents at the Tolkien exhibition at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford. He crunches the numbers with the help of Professor Graham Taylor of Oxford University, an expert in mathematical biology.

The author has not been able to visit the exhibition personally, per their introduction. It should be noted that all weekends between now and the closing of the exhibition are "sold out" (reserved tickets no longer available through the website)! If you plan to attend, try to go on a weekday where evidently it is still not too crowded at times. Do try to see it!

In the article it says "over 100,000 visitors". With thanks to Becky Dillon who asked for more accurate info, the Bodleian replied to her that "as of 9th October we had had 116,00 visitors to the exhibition (this is based on our automatic people-counting system installed at the gallery entrance)."

The Bodleian has announced that all reserve tickets are now gone for the exhibition - a small number are being held for "on the day" visits. I hope everyone who wants to get to see this has an opportunity.

All advanced tickets for Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth have now been reserved. Extra tickets (at least 25 for each 30-minute admission slot) are made available on the day, to be claimed, first come, first served, from the Weston Library Information Desk.